County may shoot for intersection cameras

Frustrated by the state's refusal to approve cameras to catch red-light runners, Palm Beach County officials are researching how to bring the cameras to hazardous local intersections, anyway.

The goal is to make roadways safer by nabbing motorists who plow through intersections after a light turns red. Statewide, red-light-running contributed to 7,325 crashes in 2006, according to the Department of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles.

County commissioners have for almost a decade sought the authority to join more than 100 communities in 20 states that have introduced red-light cameras. State law prevents police from using cameras to issue traffic tickets, except to catch toll violators. The state Legislature, concerned mainly about protecting the privacy of drivers caught on camera, has refused to pass legislation authorizing the devices.

Now, government lawyers are studying whether the county should follow the example of a new Orange County ordinance that has brought the cameras this summer to Orlando-area intersections. Other Florida municipalities, including Pembroke Pines, Apopka and Gulf Breeze, also have begun to defy the state ban on the cameras.

"We know that it's a priority [for commissioners] to bring the cameras here, so we're seeing what can be done," County Attorney Denise Nieman said. She's due to file a report to commissioners within a few weeks.

Under the new ordinances, tickets are deemed violations only of city and county codes, not state traffic laws. People cited typically are ordered either to pay a fine or appear before local code enforcement officials.

A 2005 legal opinion by then-Attorney General Charlie Crist concluded that it was within the local government's powers to enact such ordinances, within certain limits, such as not allowing the camera equipment on state property.

Commissioner Burt Aaronson, a longtime advocate for the red-light cameras, said the county need not wait any longer for specific state approval for the cameras, which he says will both save lives and cut county costs responding to crashes and treating trauma patients.

"I'm tired of waiting eight years for something that should have been a no-brainer from Day 1," Aaronson said Wednesday.

The commission chairwoman, Addie Greene, said during a Tuesday meeting where the issue was discussed that she thinks the time is ripe for red-light cameras here. "It's becoming a joke in Palm Beach County of people just ignoring the red lights," she said.

The cameras are controversial, and their effectiveness in reducing traffic deaths is a matter of debate.

An Insurance Institute for Highway Safety international review of red-light cameras found that they reduce violations by almost 50 percent and cut the number of crash-related injuries by almost a third. But both critics and proponents say that the devices typically lead to more rear-end collisions because drivers often slam on the brakes when they get a caution light at an intersection where they are accustomed to seeing the cameras.

A spokesman for the National Motorists Association, a Wisconsin-based group, considers the cameras nothing more than a money-making scheme. Jim Baxter, president of the group, said local governments could improve safety by simply doing a better job synchronizing traffic signals and extending the length of time for yellow caution lights.

County officials have candidate intersections for cameras: Forest Hill Boulevard and Military Trail; Okeechobee Boulevard and Military Trail; Forest Hill Boulevard and State Road 7; Atlantic and Congress avenues; and Okeechobee Boulevard and Haverhill Road.

Mark Hollis can be reached at mhollis@sun-sentinel.com or 561-228-5512.